World Cup Word of the Day: Dodgy refereeing

World Cup Word of the Day: Each day during the 2014 World Cup the languagecaster team will be explaining a key word or phrase for learners of English. With the competition underway, today we feature the phrase ‘dodgy refereeing‘.

World Cup Word of the Day: Dodgy Refereeing

The referee is in charge of the game and makes decisions about fouls, free kicks, yellow cards and so on. He has to referee the game. His work is called refereeing. The adjective ‘dodgy‘ means suspect, bad, not honest, so dodgy refereeing means some bad decisions have been made by the referee. Dody refereeing can influence the game, and in the opening game of the 2014 World Cup dodgy refereeing by Japanese official Yuichi Nishimura gave Brazil an undeserved penalty. Brazilian player, Fred, dived in the box but the ref gave the dodgy decision. Dodgy refereeing.

Example: Dodgy refereeing gave a penalty to Brazil.

Example: The game was spoilt by some dodgy refereeing by the man in the middle

Make sure you check out more football language at our glossary and also our World Cup posts. You can also leave a comment if you ahve a suggestion for our world Cup Word of the Day below in the comments section.